Lots of water in Tennessee...

The out-of-the-normal weather patterns are still following us. There has been above normal rainfall here in middle Tennessee and the seasonal temps have been cooler than the normal triple digits that locals say we are supposed to be seeing right now. For us, the weather has been pleasant...

While here at Rock Island, we just HAD to check out some of the other nearby State Parks. Burgess Falls State “Nature” area was just outside Sparta. I say “Nature” area because when we tried to find “Burgess Falls State Park” with Agnes (my Ford GPS system), it was not listed in the Parks section.  And even though the few street signs leading to the park names it as a State Park, our friend Ranger David here at Rock Island says Burgess Falls is specifically NOT a State Park, but a State Natural area. There were some pretty spectacular waterfalls here, and it is a popular place to swim for the locals. The trails are not overly strenuous unless you are accompanying a Princess who gets out of breath and “plops” in the shade when her physical burden becomes too great (AKA: Madison, our Cocker Spaniel).

Burgess Falls 

Dodgin' bugs and critters at Burgess Falls State "Park"

We took the kids (read: dogs) out to Fall Creek Falls State Park. It was a pretty good hike to the falls overlook, but very scenic and the falls again were spectacular. This was also another popular place to swim at the base of the falls.

The Cascades at Fall Creek Falls State Park. "Hi Kids!"

"You want ME to walk across THAT suspension bridge, are you INSANE?"

Fall Creek Falls

An orange creek at Fall Creek Falls State Park? Too much iron?

Fall Creek Falls

While here at Rock Island, we still had issues with a tiny leak in our bedroom slide during rain.  The mobile unit from Buddy Gregg RV in Knoxville came out to us and tried to seal the leak for good, but we later found the leak continuing.  Our friend Ranger David from the park recommended Southern RV out of Manchester to install some slide toppers we ordered through Camping World.  Southern RV showed up and did the install at our campsite and, voila!, leaks stopped.  A bit later in our stay we developed a leak in the plumbing behind the water heater.  With a couple other minor repairs needed, we thought we could go to our “friends” at Southern RV again.  I called them and made an appointment to bring in the trailer. At the appointed time, we dropped off the trailer for the repairs, Southern RV fully aware we were full timers.  We drove into town and putzed around, returning near closing time to find the trailer HAD NOT BEEN TOUCHED! I got the “we are still waiting to hear from the insurance co. to approve the work, we can’t do anything until then,” when I got to seeing stars. It gave all the veins in my neck a good work out too. I calmly (as best I could) splained that the repairs had to be done whether the insurance covered it or not, and there was now a waisted day behind us. Then, the veins got their super setted workout when the kid there told me, “Well, you are not our only customer, there are others ahead of you.”  OK, bye-bye Southern RV in Manchester, Tennessee and I hooked back up and rode off into the sunset...I would never recommend anyone to use Southern RV as a repair place or anything else... We found Newbies RV in McMinnville and they took care of our issues swiftly and successfully. Go to Newbies...

Jeanne ordered an inflatable kayak made by Sea Eagle while we were in Rock Island. We took it out a couple of times, once on Great Falls Lake (aka: the Caney Fork river), and once on the Collins River. It handled like a champ, my old partner Greg Quacchia would have been proud. Another of my old partners, Chuck Herzog, would have said, “Hey dummy, why not get a sail boat instead?”  We had fun paddling all over, I made Jeanne do most of the work (ha ha!). 

"C'mon, Jeanne, can't ya paddle faster?"

Notice, no paddle in my hands?

Speaking of Chuck Herzog, he and his wife Cindy just happened to be in Nashville during our stint at Rock Island and we hooked up for some BBQ and a visit here at the park. Chuck and Cindy had also done the Stone River Battlefield self guided tour, and he passed along the CD for the tour, which we made use of at a later date. Thanks, Chuck and Cindy, it was a cool tour.

Towards the end of our stay in Rock Island our friend Ranger Dava took us rock hopping down to the Great Falls/Gorge swimming hole. It was a cool hike, and the water was nice and in some places DEEP!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Cool shoes, eh?

And, of course, what stay in the Rock Island area would be complete without making a visit to tour the one and only Jack Daniel's Distillery in historic Lynchburg, TN? It was interesting to see the process and to discover this is the only location worldwide that makes JD whiskey.

Us and our new buddy, Jack.

This cave contains the spring which produces all the water used in the JD distilling process.

Nice ride...

Well, time to hit the road again, well rested and ready for some more splorin'. We had a great time as the Rock Island State Park Camp Hosts, we met some very nice folks and worked with some really really nice staff folks. If you ever get a chance, RISP is a nice place to visit, and be sure to stop in and say hi to Ranger David, Ranger Dava, Ranger Allen, Park Manager Damon, and Naturist Shannon. In the office  Donna, Vicky, and Eva will get you all settled in. Great times and great folks...(Yeah, all you maintenance guys and gals were great too...)

Now, on toward Florida...

Rock Island State Park

So, we take the gig as camp hosts for Rock Island State Park in Tennessee. They wanted at least a 30 day commitment, about 25 hours a week from us, and in return we get the free full hook up campsite. No real “job description”, and the only physical labor they wanted was cleaning two bathroom/shower buildings in the campground. The main function they wanted from their camp host(s) was to “meet and greet” campers, kinda the Walmart Greeters of the camping set.  Piece of cake...

The park is located basically in the center of the state, in the middle of the Nashville-Chatanooga-Knoxville triangle. There are two large rivers right here, the Caney Fork and the Collins, with a large dam which is used by TVA to generate power. With that there are some spectacular water falls and a large gorge area. As has been the case for the past month, rain tends to come down in buckets at the drop of a hat and disappear just as quickly, with temperatures in the 80’s and 90’s. The humidity has been bearable, some days a bit heavier than others. We have been taking our time checking out the local sites, as well as nearby towns. Getting used to the local critters and bugs is going to take some time. The park Rangers here said we should not worry about running into Copperhead snakes, a person encounters such a snake about once every 5 years. So much for Ranger math/statistics...We had 2 encounters within one week alone!

Twin Falls, water just pourin' out of the mountainside.

The Gorge just below the dam, a popular swimming hole.

Oops! The Gorge, just after a couple days of rain...

A view of the river, hiking down the Downstream Trail. Water still pourin' out of the mountainside...

Another "view" from the Downstream Trail...Mr. Copperhead blocking our passage.  He was about 3 feet long...

This was "Baby Copperhead" found trying to steal from the Pepsi machine outside the bathrooms at the campground.

One of our eerie friends, just cruisin' through our campsite.

We had to rescue Mr. Snapping Turtle from his wanderings through the traffic lanes of Hwy. 287. He was not too pleased with our unrequested assistance, he nearly snapped the branch off that I used to get him out of the road. Nasty little bugger...

We find flocks of these guys in and around the campground bathrooms...Cicadas, or what I classify them as "house flies on steroids"!

So far, the big towns we have checked out are Chatanooga and Murfreesboro. Jeanne really liked the Murfreesboro area, a town of about 100,000 which shopping-wise reminded her of Santa Rosa, CA. Plus, Murfreesboro is only about 1/2 hour away from Nashville.

The Tennessee River in Chatanooga.

There are a handful of small towns near Rock Island State Park; Sparta, McMinnville, Bell Buckle, Lynchburg (home of Jack Daniels distillery), Manchester, and Tullahoma, just to name a few. Everywhere we turn, Tennesseeans are EXTREMELY polite & friendly, and when they hear that we are full timers looking to relocate in this state, they invariably turn into recruiters, nearly begging us to move to whatever town they live in.

Antique shop in "downtown" Bell Buckle. More like a sight out of the movie, "Back to the Future."

"Vinyl Radio" playing in downtown McMinnville during their summer concert series. "Day on the Green", Tennessee style. They played 70's rock hits...

Well, our hunt continues. Until next time...

Nashville

So we packed up Max and his ma and moved on to the Nashville Jellystone Park. Max had fun there with more “Hey” rides and swimming in the pool. He is turning into quite the fish with his underwater prowess...We stayed at this particular park because it was a bit hard finding places with spaces, we were in the middle of the CMA “Fan Fair” and town was PACKED. We were able to walk around the downtown venue areas and we caught some of the performances in the various stage areas. It was OK, but we did get some rain. OK, a LOT of rain. The drawback to this stopover was that Nashville is a large tourist town and EVERYTHING gets marked up in price, so it can get a bit costly to spend any amount of time here.  Jenn and Max got to see the Gaylord’s Opryland Resort and Opry Mills shopping mall which are very large areas in themselves. While we were in Nashville we took the time to check out the Brentwood and Franklin areas, two suburbs of Nashville. Very nice... All good things must come to an end, and it was time to put Max and Jenn on a plane back to Looneyville (AKA: California). It was a bit tough to see them go.

Hangin' with Yogi and Mom at the Nashville Jellystone RV Park

Dancin' with Yogi's woman, Cindy Bear at Jellystone

Checkin' out Lauren Alaina at the CMA Fan Fair in downtown Nashville

Kickin' back for the ride with Mom on the 4-wheeler

Me and Oma and Opa at Gaylord's Opryland Resort

In front of the Aquarium restaurant in the Opry Mills shopping mall

Having lunch with the elephants at the Rainforest Cafe in the Opry Mills mall

On the walking bridge looking down to the Titan's stadium downtown Nashville

"What, ME worry?"

We then returned to the Rainbow/SKP park in Heiskell for a couple of weeks. The trailer had a small leak in the seals for the bedroom slide, so we had that taken care of while we continued to check out the area. Buddy Gregg RV Sales and Service in Knoxville did an outstanding job of taking care of us, they have a very large service program and an on site camp area for full timers.  We took a short jaunt up to Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky, the falls were interesting to see. We snuck over to Rock Island State Park outside of Sparta, TN, to check out a possible stint as Camp Hosts. It was a very green mountain area, and as it turned out, we got the host gig for which we committed at least for the month minimum that they requested, but probably will be there for a couple of months, we’ll see...

Tommy the Turtle came out to see us at the Heiskell Rainbow/SKP Park

My beautiful bride at the Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky

Our home at the Heiskell Rainbow/SKP Park

We also contemplated trading in the 5er and getting a Class A diesel pusher and “towed”. We found a 2013 Phaeton 40 footer that we really liked, so we started the process at the local dealer. Unfortunately, we quickly found that it is not easy to get financing if you are a full timer, even with the financing companies that claim to specialize in full timers (Essex being one of the more popular of them). Well, the deal eventually fell through, but we will continue our quest to get into a bus, albeit at a slow pace, no rush, take it easy...

On to Rock Island State Park...

Time for some Tennessee 'splorin'...

We made it to Branson! Jenn and Max made it! Let the fun begin! We started off with the Rainbow/SKP park, Turkey Creek RV Village in Hollister. It is a small park right on Turkey Creek near where it connects to Taneycomo Lake. The Landing, a popular outdoor mall, is nearby and all is just outside the mess of downtown Branson. We picked Jenn and Max up from the Branson airport and got them situated in the trailer (“Pack ‘em in!”). During the week while we waited for the plane, Oklahoma City area got nailed by the tornado and Jeanne heard a tornado had touched down at the Lake Thunderbird State Park, which we had left about a week ago. Topping that off, the tornado warnings and alerts got intense in the Hollister/Branson area while we were there. Luckily, all we got was some thunder and lightning shows and a little bit of rain.  We got some visiting in with family (the Bevins clan and the Pace clan), then we relocated to the Compton Ridge Campground where the Bevins’ had a permanent campsite and we spent the Memorial Day weekend there with them.  We’ve still been fighting the ticks, and the women got a thrill (read “scare”) when word came out a camper got bit by a copperhead snake while we were there. Max had fun with his cousins and swimming in the pool. And what visit to Branson would be complete without a visit to Lambert’s, “Home of the Throwed Rolls”. 

Compton Ridge Campground in Branson.

"Now, THIS is a vacation!"

Hay rides at Compton Ridge. "Yee Hawwww!"

From Branson it was off to Loretta Lynn’s Ranch at Hurricane Mills, TN, a campground with concert facility, rodeo facilities, and a motocross type track area for M/C’s and ATV’s. We did not get a chance encounter with Loretta Lynn, but had a fun time touring the ranch/facilities in a rented golf cart. I think it was the highlight of Jenn’s visit, driving the cart... We got to take Max swimming in Hurricane Creek and the pool on the ranch, he had a fun time. They put on a “campfire songfest” with some pretty good musicians playing guitar. No snakes encountered here, but Max did get a close look at a fair sized turtle.

Chillin' in Hurricane Creek...

Max, hangin' with Oma and Opa in Hurricane Mills.

Just cruisin' in my cool ride. "Look, Ma, no hands!"

The Jellystone Campground in Cosby, TN was our next destination. This was a great family park, they do a lot of activities for the kids, and the owner is a big kid himself. While we were there a church kids choir from Georgia came and gave a concert on the grounds. We were also in the area of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, so we tried to do a day at Dollywood.  The weather was not real cooperative during our whole stay here, we got some serious rain/thunder/lightning.  The day we tried to go to Dollywood, the rain came down so hard you could not see while driving. There was just enough let-up in the rain so Max could enjoy a couple of “Hey Rides” with Yogi Bear through the park grounds. We did manage to drive into the Smoky Mountain National Park, but it was in that driving rain and we made it to the top of Clingman’s Dome, but the fog/mist was so thick we could not see past the parking area. We did get some spectacular views from other vantage points.

Ma and me and Yogi...

Hey Rides at Jellystone.

Oma and Opa in the Smoky Mountains. "How come they call them the Smoky Mountains?"

Next stop we drove to the Rainbow/SKP park, Raccoon Valley C.G. in Heiskell just outside of Knoxville. From there we managed to make it to Dollywood during clear weather and we had a good time until about 3:00 in the afternoon when the skies opened up again on us. We terminated our stay there at that time, since Dollywood closes all outdoor rides when lightning activity gets within 6 miles or so of the park, and it did. We made a trip to downtown Knoxville to the area of Market Square and the World Fair Park. We did some shopping in town and found a great dog park to take the doggies to, part of the Pet Safe business complex there in town. 

"This is how I fly at Dollywood!"

Let the fun begin...

"Lightning storm! Run for your life!" 

Me and Opa in the fountains at the World Fair park in Knoxville.

Our next stop is the Jellystone Campground in Nashville, just up the street from the Grand Ol’ Opry. Stay tuned...

Eastbound and Down...

The RV repair place was Dean’s RV Superstore in Tulsa, OK. They were of outstanding assistance to us and got us in a day earlier than our appointment. The staff was friendly and courteous and I would recommend Dean’s to anyone needing repairs or parts. They even allowed us to set up on their front lot and spend the night there, no fee and with electric hook-up.

But let the fun continue. We wanted to spend a few days at Lake Tenkiller State Park outside of Gore, OK. We got there and met the Oklahoma RV Club, a small RV group that were already there. Very friendly folks, they came to our door and invited us over for BBQ and social time. Lake Tenkiller is a very nice, CLEAR water lake which touts fishing and SCUBA diving. We spoke with a SCUBA instructor who was diving there and he said they had a roped off area for SCUBA only, and they had submerged a small airplane, a helicopter, and a bus for diving.

Tenkiller Lake, the SCUBA area

There were a couple of short paved trails in the park, the Nature Center was interesting with a few of the local snakes on display, such as timber rattlesnake, diamondback rattlesnake, copperhead, bull snake, rat snake and a caged dove that kept “laughing” at us.

This guy did not like me taking his picture...

One drawback to this park was there was no beach/designated swim area that we found. It was more geared for boating. And, as usual for us, we got some nasty rain/thunder/lightning storms pretty much the bulk of our few days stay there.

The members of the Oklahoma RV Club told us about another state park that we should try to see, the Natural Falls State Park, just 6 miles west of Siloam Springs, Arkansas but still in Oklahoma.  We headed there for our next adventure. It was a nice, small park in heavily wooded area just off Hwy. 412. We walked the short trails around the park and found the walk to the falls very scenic.  The falls are about 70’ high and I’m told they filmed parts of “Where the Red Fern Grows” in this park. The one drawback to these trails was the amount of ticks we picked up (9 to be precise).

Bring lots of repellant with you for these walks. We happened to be here during Mother’s Day weekend and there were lots of families here. Surprisingly, the park remained very quiet in the nighttime and early morning times despite the number of small kids here.

Our home at Natural Falls State Park, OK

The Natural Falls, the smaller one on the right appears to be fully spring fed.

The Falls, from the top.

Well, it is time to depart the great state of Oklahoma and head into Branson, Missouri for family visits. Until next time...